masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Orioles closer Zach Britton is set to begin his injury rehab assignment Wednesday with Triple-A Norfolk. He’s been setback-free in his mound work and simulated games.
Britton threw two innings this morning at Tropicana Field. The extended spring training players who batted and played defense behind him included infielder Steve Wilkerson, who’s completing his 50-game suspension.
Here’s Britton on the sim game and how he’s feeling:
“It was good,” he said. “Two…

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Orioles closer Zach Britton is set to begin his injury rehab assignment Wednesday with Triple-A Norfolk. He’s been setback-free in his mound work and simulated games.

Thumbnail image for zach-britton-black-side.pngBritton threw two innings this morning at Tropicana Field. The extended spring training players who batted and played defense behind him included infielder Steve Wilkerson, who’s completing his 50-game suspension.

Here’s Britton on the sim game and how he’s feeling:

“It was good,” he said. “Two innings. We brought over some guys from Sarasota, so I had a whole defense behind me, a couple of hitters, so that was nice. I felt, that was probably the best one I’ve had. I think maybe it seemed like more of a game situation with guys behind me that could field the ball and stuff like that, so I’m definitely ready to start a rehab assignment.”

On whether he’s done with sim games: “Yeah. All done with that. Now it’s just about getting into some games. I feel like I’m right where I need to be at this stage of the rehab and go ahead and get some games under my belt and work my way back to the team.”

On whether the assignment could be shorter: “Yeah, it could be. Every time I’ve gotten on the mound it’s gotten better. Today was probably the sharpest that everything was. The breaking balls, sinkers, command, things like that. I definitely feel if I continue in that direction where I’m feeling really close to myself, it could be a shorter rehab assignment, but you never know until you get that first one in and get the adrenaline pumping.

“I could be sore and maybe need a couple more days. I try not to get too far ahead, but I think we’re leaning toward hopefully it being a little bit shorter.”

On how he’s not thinking about the Achilles anymore: “No. I think the last couple we made that transition into just working on driving the sinker down in the zone, commanding pitches. Not hesitant at all to react on balls. There were a couple balls that were fouled off today that I ran off the mound either side and didn’t even think about it, so that’s good progress.”

On how he’d gladly have taken his rehab date if presented to him after the injury: “Yeah, absolutely. The doctor had some timeframes, but he had just done the surgery. He told me you never know how the patient’s going to heal. Everyone’s different. And things have gone great.

“(Brian) Ebel coming out to California I think really jump-started the process. He really dug in and studied these injuries. They’re not very common in baseball, so a lot of credit goes to Ebel really stepping up on that. Different techniques and equipment that we bought to really jump-start the healing. Yeah, I think where we are so far is pretty impressive. Even the doctor (Dr. Kenneth Jung) that did the surgery said when he saw me in Anaheim he was blown away at the progress that we’ve made and a lot of that is because of what Ebel’s done.”